The purple seats at Littlejohn Coliseum were not kind to the Terps on Jan. 31.
One of the first things coach Gary Williams said after his team fell to the then-No. 21 Tigers 62-53 was that he couldn’t remember forcing 21 turnovers and holding an opponent to less than 32 percent shooting and losing.
But that happens when your team turns the ball over 26 times and shoots 2-for-10 from 3-point range. In other words, it was a pretty ugly game all around.
Tonight, the Terps (19-7, 9-3 ACC) have a chance to get a little bit of revenge. (Even if no one came close to using that word during yesterday’s media availaility session.)
In a match-up of two teams that have won three straight in conference, the Tigers (19-7, 7-5 ACC) are at Comcast Center for a 9 p.m. tip.
One thing to watch is the two biggest stars in this one. Greivis Vasquez and Trevor Booker were both among 30 players named to the Naismith Midseason Watch List today.
In that Jan. 31 meeting, Vasquez had trouble dealing with Tanner Smith’s length and Andre Young’s quickness and ended up finishing with an ACC-season low 10 points and a career-high nine turnovers. Booker shot a season-low 2-for-16, but he got the last laugh sinking a big three-pointer in the closing minutes.
The Terps’ home ACC win streak needed a Cliff Tucker buzzer beater to continue on Saturday. They’ll try to improve to 7-0 tonight and snap a three-game losing streak to the Tigers.
We’re about 20 minutes from game time. The Terps are in their home gold jerseys. Not much else to report.
Continue to follow The Diamondback here, via Twitter at www.twitter.com/DBKSports and at www.diamondbackonline.com throughout the night and tomorrow.
Eric Detweiler is The Diamondback’s Terrapin Men’s Basketball Team beat writer. He can be reached at edetweilerdbk@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/edetweiler.